Congressman Henry Cuellar, of Texas, was the only Democrat to vote no Friday on a radical pro-abortion bill that would force the whole country to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions without limits up to birth.
The deceptively named Women’s Health Protection Act passed the U.S. House in a 218-211 vote with Cuellar joining Republicans in voting against it. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill.
Democrats for Life of America praised the Texas lawmaker for supporting women and children, not the billion-dollar abortion lobby.
“We hope that other Democrats in Congress will follow the lead of Congressman Cuellar and vote for women rather than for the abortion industry,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America. “The legislation was written by the abortion lobby to line their pockets financially by eliminating abortion health and safety regulations and eliminating laws aimed to provide women with information about abortion.”
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a year-end donation!
House Democrat leaders portrayed the bill as a mere “codification” of Roe v. Wade into federal law, but the legislation goes far beyond Roe by eliminating restrictions on abortions that the Supreme Court ruling allows.
Pro-life leaders nicknamed the legislation the Abortion Without Limits Up to Birth Act. They said it would erase basically all restrictions on abortion and prevent states from enacting even modest protections for unborn babies. Limits on late-term abortions and bans on sex-selection abortions would be gone, and taxpayers would be forced to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions up to birth if it passes.
Laws that protect women and girls would be eliminated, too, including parental consent for minors and informed consent laws that ensure mothers receive basic facts about their unborn baby’s development before going through with an abortion.
The legislation is too extreme for most Americans, including many Democrat voters. Polls consistently show strong public opposition to late-term abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions. A recent AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 65 percent of Americans think most or all abortions should be illegal in the second-trimester and 80 percent think most or all should be illegal in the third trimester.
Day said Americans want better support for mothers and babies, not abortions.
“A majority of Americans would like to see more support for pregnant women and alternatives to abortion,” she said. “We look forward to our continued discussion with Congressman Cuellar to advance legislation that empowers women to make informed decisions about their futures. This commonsense approach is supported by mainstream Americans and includes making sure the Pregnancy Assistance Fund signed into law by President Obama is fully funded.”
She encouraged lawmakers in both parties to support the Every Mother Matters Act and the Care For Her Act, a bipartisan bill recently introduced by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, of Nebraska, to provide resources, including a new tax credit, to help pregnant and parenting mothers and their children.
The pro-abortion bill now heads to the U.S. Senate where it likely will fail. Though Democrats also narrowly control the Senate, there appear to be enough votes to block the legislation. One Democrat, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, is pro-life, and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a pro-abortion Republican from Maine, said the bill is too radical for even her and she will vote against it, Forbes reports.
If it passes the U.S. Senate, the bill would:
- Eliminate all state and federal parental consent laws in relation to abortion
- Eliminate all state informed consent laws, including those that allow women to view an ultrasound prior to abortion
- Prevent states from passing laws to protect babies at 20 weeks, thereby joining countries like North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands in not protecting unborn children later in development
- Force doctors and nurses opposed to abortion to lose their jobs, and Catholic hospitals could lose public funds unless they perform abortions
- Eliminate decades-long limitations on direct taxpayer funding of abortion – including the popular Hyde Amendment, which has saved over 2 million lives since enacted
- In short, overturn all federal and state pro-life laws, and go further to make it illegal for elected officials to even introduce pro-life legislation
